


Deep down I know this never works.

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-18 14:03:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2351042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis Tomlinson, the resident golden boy, had heard more stories about Harry Styles than he cares to admit. Each story seemingly worst than the last, painting a picture of tattoos, curly hair, tight jeans and bad intentions within the young boy's mind. To Louis, Harry Styles was nothing but trouble.</p>
<p>Harry Styles, the resident bad boy, had never heard about the likes of Louis Tomlinson, the two running in completely different circles that never seemed to overlap. But that all changed one fateful night when their paths crossed at a local house party. To Harry, Louis Tomlinson was a breath of fresh air, the boy's innocence proving to be far more tempting than it should have been.</p>
<p>(AKA I'm terrible at summaries.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my second attempt at writing a fic and I'm hoping this round goes better than the last one did. But anyways, I'd like to thank [rugburnedharry](http://www.rugburnedharry.tumblr.com) for reading over this chapter and giving me feedback! You guys should definitely go and check her out over on tumblr and while you're at it, stop by [my page](http://www.stylesphobic.tumblr.com) as well. Kudos and comments would be great!

Louis managed one last panicked glance at the outside of the house before being tugged through the threshold of the front door.

His words of protests died in his throat, joining all of the others in the graveyard that had formed on the tip of his tongue. A thick heat washed over him instantly, causing his hand currently fisted in the shirt of the all too chipper blonde leading him to god knows where to tighten as bodies began to press against him from every direction. He could feel the beat they were dancing to vibrating through his very core, his own thoughts becoming more and more jumbled with every passing second as he was lead further into the house.

It almost felt as if he was suffocating.

But before the feeling firmly settled over him, he was being pulled into another scene, one much less crowded than the packed living room of gyrating bodies. A sense of relief flooded him momentarily before he was being tucked up under someone’s arm and being handed a cup of foul smelling liquid.

His eyes automatically sought out Niall, only to realize that the arm he was currently tucked under belonged to none other than the boy he was looking for himself.

Louis tried handing the cup back, his head shaking slightly before a much larger hand began shoving the cup back in his direction.

"Niall, you know I don’t drink, I don’t even-" A finger was pressed to his lips, his nose wrinkling in slight disgust,the rest of his words coming out muffled.

"Don’t wanna hear it, Boobear. This is your big night out, yeah? So fuckin’ live a little."

  
Louis let out a huff, his eyes narrowing at the blonde. “I don’t remember agreeing to this big night out. In fact, I distinctly remember telling you that I didn’t want to come in the first place.”

  
Niall let out a huff of his own, downing what was left in his own cup before tossing the plastic cup onto a nearby counter and turning to face Louis.

  
"Look, it’s just a little alcohol, alright? Just a little party, okay?" The older boy’s hands came up to rest on Louis’ shoulders. "You’re nearly seventeen, man. By the time I was your age, I was already sleeping off shitty hangovers. Now I’m not saying that you have to go out and get shit faced, but fuck, just lighten up a little and at least try to have some fun for once in your life."

  
The younger boy stood in silence for a moment, his gaze dropping from the piercing set of blues opposite of him and down to the brown liquid in the cup he was still holding onto. After a moment, he nodded slightly, lifting the cup to his lips and taking a small sip, his face instantly screwing up at the taste.

  
A loud laugh sounded from Niall, one hand already reaching for another cup for himself while the other slapped Louis on the back. “That’s my boy! Tonight’s gonna be fucking mental!”

 

**∞ ∞ ∞**

  
Niall’s words had continued to replay in Louis’ head as he downed cup after cup of various drinks, the other boy’s words sounding more and more accurate as the night went on.

  
Honestly, Louis was seriously questioning how he had lived without alcohol for this long. He had never had this much fun in his entire life and yes, that was including the time his family had taken a trip to Disney Land for his eighth birthday.

  
He had become a social butterfly, fluttering from one group of people to the next- having lost Niall ages ago, though he was more than positive he had witnessed the older boy being led upstairs by some busty red head.

  
The thought made him laugh, his head tilting back to rest on the chest of the body behind him, not quite tall enough to reach his shoulder.

  
"What’s so funny, Kitten?" the boy slurred, his free arm snaking around Louis’ waist as they continued to messily sway to the beat of the music pounding through the speakers surrounding the living room.

  
Louis’ face may have scrunched up in distaste of the pet name. Honestly, it sounded as if it was plucked straight out of some cheesy porno.

  
"Nothing," Louis supplied, his own words running together in return, his eyes slipping shut as he spoke. "Just remembered my friend going upstairs with some girl earlier."

  
Now that he had said it out loud, he wasn’t exactly sure why he had found it funny, but he was far too drunk to question it, really.

  
"Is that your way of hinting at something?" Came the immediate response.

  
"No, no it’s not." Louis begin to squirm, lifting his head from the boy’s shoulder and struggling against the hold the other had on him. "Not at all."

  
"C’mon, you don’t have to be like that," The boy began, reaching his hands out once again. "C’mere, Kitten, let me make it up-" His words were cut off, an arm wrapping across his shoulders belonging to someone Louis couldn’t make out just yet.

  
Eventually the person came into focus, Louis instantly taking a step back as realization hit him.

  
He would recognize the boy anywhere.

  
If the tattoos littering his skin, his tight jeans clinging to his legs that seemed to go on for days and bright green eyes weren’t a dead giveaway, then surely his unruly curls held back with his trademark bandanna would be.

  
It was none other than Harry Styles.

  
Louis had heard countless stories about the boy. And sure, maybe some of them weren’t true. In fact, Louis found it hard to believe that one boy could get into so much trouble, but the fact that the boy himself never denied any of it left an uneasy feeling brewing in Louis’ stomach.

  
"Greg, buddy-" He drawled, his eyes focused intently on Louis as he spoke. "I think your little friend- Kitten, was it? Doesn’t want to play anymore, yeah?"

  
Louis bristled immediately. “My name is  _Louis_ , not  _Kitten_.”

  
Harry held his hands up in mock defense, a smirk lazily stretching across his lips. “Whatever you say,  _Louis._ ”

  
The older boy turned then, focusing his attention on the other boy-Greg?-pulling him in by the shoulders once again, leaning down slightly to whisper something into his ear.

  
Normally Louis wasn’t a nosy person, really, he wasn’t. But in that moment he couldn’t help but lean forward in an attempt to hear what Harry was saying. Blame it on the alcohol.

But his attempts were fruitless and he was straightening up, at least what he thought was straightening up in his current condition, and pretending to not have been listening at all as Harry turned back to face him once again.

  
"My friend here would like to apologize, wouldn’t you Greg?"

  
Louis looked on in disbelief as Greg nodded his head before muttering a sloppy ‘sorry’.

  
"Good, lad. Now off you go- I hear they just brought in another batch of kegs."

  
Greg seemed to brighten up at that before turning and ducking out of Harry’s grasp and scurrying away.

  
Louis was still staring at the spot Greg had just been, confusion clearly masking his face as his attention was turned back to Harry, who had just took another step towards him, closing most of the distance between them. 

  
"So," He started, the smirk that had been on his face moments before reappearing. "Louis, was it? I’m Harry, Harry Styles."

  
His mouth opened to respond, to make some sort of sassy reply out of his jumbled thoughts currently floating around in his head, but before he got the chance to reply, everything went black.

  
He blinked a few times, his confusion doubling as everything became eerily quiet within the house.

  
After a moment, other party goers began to murmur, Louis feeling relieved at the fact that he wasn’t alone in his state of uncertainty.

  
"What the fu-" Louis stared down at the hand now clamped over his mouth, the hand not holding his cup reaching up in an attempt to pull the hand away because  _really_? What is with people putting their hands on his face? Could they be anymore unsanitary?

  
His movements were on the verge of panic when he suddenly stilled, a blinding light filling the recently darkened room from the large bay window on the front side of the house in the living room they were currently standing in.

  
Louis didn’t have a chance to continue his squirming or to question what the hell was going on before a voice was booming over what Louis assumed was a megaphone.

  
Silence fell over the room once again, everyone listening to the voice droning on about how they were all being required to exit the building in an orderly fashion through the front door to be carded and possibly detained if they were underage. And if they didn’t comply, they’d have no other choice but to come in themselves and use force as necessary.

  
A sense of dread began to wash over Louis, reality sinking in fast as the man on the megaphone finished talking.

  
Everything stayed calm for a few more moments and for a split second, Louis believed that everyone was going to do as they were told. 

But then, chaos broke out.

Countless people were pushing and shoving and shouting, scattering in any direction they could with an exit. Louis attempted to do the same, but his feet were glued to the floor, his eyes darting wildly around the room in hopes that he would find Niall and they would get the hell out of there.

But much to his dismay, the blonde was nowhere in sight. And if Louis felt like crying, he’d never admit to it.

  
He noted the hand that had been covering his mouth had been pulled away and was now outstretched in his direction, the curly haired boy being grabbed onto by two dark haired boys that were starting to drag him away.

Harry turned his head momentarily, shouting in their direction to wait a minute before turning back to a obviously frightened Louis.

  
"Do you trust me?"

  
Louis blinked a few times, wanting to say that no, he didn’t trust the boy at all. That he would be stupid to trust a complete stranger that he had heard nothing but bad things about.

  
But his head was nodding and his hand was reaching out, his fingers intertwining with the older boy’s and allowing himself to be tugged along, out the back door in the kitchen, across a narrow back yard and through a hole in a fence that led to only god knows where.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis Tomlinson, the resident golden boy, had heard more stories about Harry Styles than he cares to admit. Each story seemingly worst than the last, painting a picture of tattoos, curly hair, tight jeans and bad intentions within the young boy's mind. To Louis, Harry Styles was nothing but trouble.
> 
> Harry Styles, the resident bad boy, had never heard about the likes of Louis Tomlinson, the two running in completely different circles that never seemed to overlap. But that all changed one fateful night when their paths crossed at a local house party. To Harry, Louis Tomlinson was a breath of fresh air, the boy's innocence proving to be far more tempting than it should have been.
> 
> (AKA I'm terrible at summaries.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I just want to say that you guys are amazing and the amount of hits I got on the first chapter on the first day was crazy! Anyways, I'm currently working on the fourth chapter, so updates might be more frequent for a little bit, but I have a feeling it'll slow down eventually. Again, I'd like to thank spreaditforharry on tumblr for reading over this chapter, you should definitely go check her out! And while you're at it, check my blog out at stylesphobic as well!
> 
> Kudos, comments and even message on tumblr would be great!

Louis was out of breath by the time they stopped running, his short legs hardly able to keep up with the three taller boys that had been dragging him along.

  
They finally came to a stop just outside of a shabby diner, Louis hunched over, a hand on his knee as he focused on evening out his breaths and not throwing up the entire contents of his stomach. He made a mental note to himself: Drinking and running do not mix.

  
After a few moments, his senses were coming back to him and the feeling of needing to throw up was receding. He managed to straighten himself up, noting the fact that the hand not currently fisted in his own shirt was still intertwined with Harry’s.

  
He grimaced momentarily before freeing his hand, gaining the attention of the curly headed boy himself, his eyes alight with adrenalin.

  
"Shit, that was a close call, huh?"

  
Louis had thought it was Harry that had spoken, but on further inspection he realized the words were coming from the raven haired boy currently fishing around in the front pocket of his jeans and producing a pack of cigarettes a moment later.

  
"Yeah, would’ve been out of there a lot faster if we didn’t have  _someone_  holding us back.”

  
Louis turned on his heel, his eyes coming to rest on another dark haired boy. He opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by the boy currently taking a drag from his now lit cigarette.

  
"Ease up, Nick, cut the kid some fucking slack."

  
The boy-Nick-simply rolled his eyes, shuffling towards Harry and snaking an arm across his shoulders.

  
"You’re right, Zayn, maybe I should just put the blame on Hazza here. After all, he was the one that brought the little shit along with us."

  
Louis stood there, feeling more awkward than ever as he looked from one boy to the other.

  
"Right, well then- I’ll, uh, just be off now."

  
It seemed like the right thing to say, but as he turned around to leave, a chorus of laughter sounded from behind him. He spun around to face the boys, his eyes narrowing and an eyebrow lifting in confusion. Seriously, what the hell was up with these guys?

  
Zayn and Harry finally quieted, a sneer plastered to Nick’s face that Louis would just love to smack off.

"Calm down, kid. Nick was just messing with you, he doesn’t mean anything by it, honest." It was Zayn talking then and Louis may or may not have felt slightly humiliated. How was he supposed to know that it was a joke?

  
"Really, Kitten, you should learn to take a joke."

  
The young boy felt his anger spike again, the urge to haul off and kick the curly headed boy in the shin all too tempting.

  
"I told you my name is  _Louis_ , I’m not an animal!”

  
Another bout of laughter erupted from the group of boys, Harry holding his hands up in defense once again before shoving them into the pockets of his jeans.

  
"Well then, Louis, care to join us for some food?"

  
Louis stood there for a moment, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other as his gaze slid past the trio of boys and to the diner behind them that Harry had nodded to. He really should say no, should really call Liam and beg him to come pick him up or try to get a hold of Niall, but his head was already nodding and he was following behind the group of whooping boys as they entered the building.

 

**∞ ∞ ∞**

 

  
He hadn’t been sure about how his night was going to go, but being squished between Nick Grimshaw and Zayn Malik in a booth five times too small, sharing a plate of fries while nearly inhaling a burger was not one of the predicted outcomes. Not even close.

  
Louis sat there quietly, continuing to eat his food as the three boys went on and on about previous crazy nights they had endured and how this night might come close to topping them all and that’s when Louis spoke up.

  
"How does this night compare to the others? I don’t think running from the cops is nearly as good as the other stories you told."

  
Harry and Zayn let out a laugh, Nick rolling his eyes once again.

  
"Oh, my little Lou, it seems like you’ve got a lot to learn. That party was only the beginning of the night for us, an ice breaker if you will. The night is still young and there’s far too much to do to call it a night this early."

  
Louis gulped down a bite of food he had been chewing, his nose wrinkling slightly at the nickname, his curiosity ultimately getting the better of him.

"Where are you going next then?"

  
Harry smirked at that, a hand reaching up and running through his slightly disheveled hair.

  
"Well, there was another party we planned on hitting up. It’s out at that old abandoned barn they still haven’t torn down yet. It’s supposed to be huge."

  
As Louis stayed silent, taking in the new information, Harry leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table as his smirk grew, his eyes lighting up once again. “You wouldn’t happen to be interested in going, would you?”

  
Louis was about to decline, he truly was. He was about turn down the offer, thank them for the meal and then go about his plan of calling Liam.

But then Harry began speaking once again.

  
"I mean, I know it’s late and all, probably way past your bedtime already, right? Maybe we should just let you get back home, huh?"

  
He would love to say that he was above letting the older boy’s words get under his skin, and normally he was above that type of thing, but when he was up against the words combined with three sets of identical smirks, it was pointless.

  
"I’ll have you know that I’m sixteen, almost seventeen, not five. I don’t have a bedtime and I don’t need to be home." Louis ended his mini rant with a huff, his arms crossing over his chest. And alright, maybe that wasn’t exactly true, but they didn’t need to know that.

  
Another round of laughter sounded from the three boys before Zayn spoke up this time. “Well then, it looks like we’ve got a long night ahead of us, boys.”

  
Realization slowly sunk in for Louis as he watched Zayn scoot out of the booth to stand, followed by a still smirking Harry (Seriously, did this kid ever stop?) and by a seemingly unamused Nick.

  
"We should get a move on Lou, wouldn’t want to miss the rest of the party," Harry cooed as he dug into his pocket and produced his wallet, pulling out a bill and placing it on the table before shoving his wallet back into the same pocket.

  
"No, I guess we wouldn’t," Louis mustered, his arms slowly unfolding before he scooted out of the booth himself and fell in line behind the group.

**∞ ∞ ∞**

 

Louis had no clue what he was doing. He had no clue what he was doing before when Niall dragged him to the previous party and he certainly didn’t know what the hell he was doing now. But here he was, seemingly blending in with the crowd that surrounded him as he shot back whatever was handed his way, the cheers from the even smaller crowd that seemed to form around him and the other three boys egging him on.

  
He was more than positive he had never succumbed so many times to peer pressure in one night before. Usually he had a level head when it came to things like this, but in that moment, there was probably nothing he would have turned down as long as the crowd was cheering him on.

  
As another cup was handed to him, a voice spoke lowly in his hear as an arm snaked around his waist, a hand gripping his hip.

  
"Don’t you think you’ve had enough, Kitten?"

  
Louis rolled his eyes, too far gone to even think about correcting the boy on the pet name yet again.

  
He turned slightly, unsteadily, his head tilting back slightly as his brows knitted together in confusion. Was Harry Styles really worrying about him? But naturally, the thought sounded too absurd, even in Louis’ intoxicated state. Of course he wasn’t worrying. Hell, they didn’t even know each other. How could he worry?

  
A wry smile slowly spread across Louis’ face, his brows smoothing out. “Actually, I don’t think I’ve had enough,  _Harold_.”

  
At this point, it was hard to tell where one word started and the other one ended and honestly, Louis had had far more than enough alcohol to last him for the rest of his life. Most likely.

  
Harry chuckled at Louis’ words, reaching out and effortlessly grabbing the cup the younger boy had been holding onto before passing it off to someone else.

  
Immediately, Louis pouted, on the verge of protesting Harry’s actions before Harry cut him off.

  
"How about we cool it on the drinks for a little, yeah? We can get you sat down for a little and if you really feel up to continuing, I’ll get you another drink, alright?"

  
The smaller boy still wanted to argue, to say that he didn’t need to ‘cool it’ and that he could take care of himself, but everything seemed to start spinning and he was starting to give into the idea that maybe, just maybe, sitting down for a little bit wasn’t all that bad of an idea at the moment.

  
So with a huff from Louis and another chuckle from Harry, Louis allowed himself to be pulled along- away from the small group and even away from the larger group until he was being thrown off balance by a gentle shove to the shoulder and ungracefully tumbling to the ground.

  
As he gathered himself, he turned to shoot a glare in Harry’s direction, only to be met with that god awful smirk as the older boy made his way to the ground himself, ending up with his legs spread out before him and one arm stretched out behind himself to prop him up.

  
"You could’ve warned me, you know," Louis slurred, moving around attempting to mimic Harry’s movements to end up in the same position before giving up with a sigh and flopping back onto the grass. "It would have been nice."

  
A deep hum sounded from beside him, Louis making out a slight nod from the other boy accompanied by a small smile.

  
"Yeah, guess it would’ve been, but I never claimed to be a nice person."

  
Louis snorted, shaking his own head slightly as he closed his eyes. “Even if you had, I don’t think I would have believed you.”

  
That seemed to catch Harry’s attention, his slightly hazy eyes drifting from the crowd of people to the young boy next to him, his own eyebrows knitting together. “Oh? And why not?”

  
"Well, for starters, everyone knows you’re an asshole. I mean, that’s what everyone says anyways. They’re always talking about the shitty things you do, which honestly always confuses me because I see those same people turn around and flock to you whenever you come around."

  
Maybe it was due to the alcohol, his current odd need to talk, his curiosity or a bit of all three that spurred him on.

  
"I always thought that it was just lies, that they were just making it up since afterwards they’d come crawling to you but then I realized that those people are also shitty people and I started thinking that all of that stuff- no, no, at least half of the things said- were true and they just put up with you because they were also shitty and it didn’t really matter to them."

  
Everything fell silent, Harry’s gaze still locked on Louis.

  
"Did that make sense?"

  
Harry stayed silent, his body having gone stiff as soon as Louis had started talking. He forced himself to relax, to unclench his jaw.

  
"Yeah, it made sense, Kitten." His voice sounded off, but Louis never noticed. Instead, he let out a giggle, opening his eyes and turning onto his side.

  
"Kitten is such a terrible nickname," he sighed, shaking his head once again. "So terrible."

  
By then, Harry’s eyes had managed to find their way back to the group, the bonfire burning just beyond them casting dancing shadows across his features.

  
"It fits you though," he mumbled in reply, another small smirk finding his lips at Louis’ huff of protest.

  
"I beg to differ, Mr. Styles. It’s even worse than what Niall calls me."

  
Harry arched a brow at that, slight curiosity brewing inside of him. “Oh? And what exactly does this Niall call you?”

  
Louis wrinkled his nose slightly, lifting his arms and tucking them under his head as some form of a pillow. “He calls me Boobear.”

  
A grimace flashes across Harry’s face, his head nodding once. “I have to give you that one, it is pretty awful.”

  
Louis can’t help but let out another giggle at that, curling up slightly before falling silent.

  
The silence stretched on, neither of the two saying anything for what seemed like hours before Louis spoke up once again.

  
"You know, I think there might be more to you. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m drunk or the fact that you saved me back there at that party, but I don’t think you’re as bad as everyone makes you out to be."

  
The small smile that had been playing on Harry’s lips seemed to grow, just a fraction, as the two fell back into silence.

  
It wasn’t until Harry was met with the sound of soft snores that he replied.

  
"If only you knew, Kitten. If only you knew."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis Tomlinson, the resident golden boy, had heard more stories about Harry Styles than he cares to admit. Each story seemingly worst than the last, painting a picture of tattoos, curly hair, tight jeans and bad intentions within the young boy's mind. To Louis, Harry Styles was nothing but trouble.
> 
> Harry Styles, the resident bad boy, had never heard about the likes of Louis Tomlinson, the two running in completely different circles that never seemed to overlap. But that all changed one fateful night when their paths crossed at a local house party. To Harry, Louis Tomlinson was a breath of fresh air, the boy's innocence proving to be far more tempting than it should have been.
> 
> (AKA I'm terrible at summaries.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's the third chapter! I'm loving all of this hits and positive feedback on this and I literally did not think this would get this much attention, honestly. Again, comments, kudos, etc are much appreciated! Also, the fourth chapter might take a little longer to get out because I've been feeling like shit for the past few days, but I'll try my best to get it up soon! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

The boy stirred slightly, the sun forcing it’s way through the small crack in his curtains setting part of the room ablaze with it’s warm glow. Normally, it wouldn’t have bothered the boy, he would have accepted the warmth on his skin with open arms, but in that exact moment his head felt as if it were going to explode any second and the light currently shining in his face wasn’t helping at all.

  
Louis’ eyes slid open, only to shut a split second later. Was he in his room?

  
His eyes opened once again, and honestly, the bed he was currently sprawled out on should have been a dead giveaway. How the hell did he end up in his room?

  
Questions continued to float around his pounding head, mainly focused on what all happened last night, but everything came to a halt when he heard a knock at his door.

  
Slowly, he turned his head, still wincing at the movement nonetheless as the door swung open to reveal his mother.

  
Shit.

  
Of course, he supposed it could have been a far worse situation- the person standing in his doorway could have been his father.

  
Louis managed one of his million dollar smiles, only to be met with the look his mother always gave him or his sisters right before she was about to lecture them. Great.

  
"Oh good, you’re awake now." The woman entered the room, laundrey basket in hand as she made her way to Louis’ dresser. "Do you want to explain to me why some boy I’ve never even heard of brought you home at three in the morning?"

  
The boy let out a groan, burying his face in the crook of his arm. “No, not really.”

  
His mother turned towards him, her hands on her hips. “Louis Tomlinson, I want an explanation and I want one now.”

  
Honestly, the answer was obvious and Louis was well aware of the fact that his mother already knew. She often made him and his sisters actually admit to their wrong doings, as if it would teach them some sort of lesson. And in a way, he supposed it did. After all, there was nothing more terrifying than admitting something bad you did to your parents.

  
Louis sucked his lower lip between his teeth, worrying away at it before freeing it once again.

  
"He was bringing me home from a party."

  
At least, that would have been the only obvious explanation Louis could give her. After all, he hardly remembered what took place during the party, let alone how he got home.

  
He pulled his face from the crook of his arm, chancing a glance in his mother’s direction before pushing himself into a sitting position and immediately regretting it.

  
He never wanted to drink again.

  
"Uh huh, and who was the boy? Where was Niall?"

  
Louis gulped, lifting a hand and running it through his hair. He had never been one to lie, mainly due to the fact that he was a shit liar, but also because the thought of lying to his mother terrified him.

  
"I- Uh, I don’t know." Louis paused for a moment, gathering up an courage he could muster. "We lied about going to the movies and ended up going to a party at somebody’s house and I lost Niall there and then the police came and Niall was nowhere in sight so Harry offered to get me out of there and I don’t know why I agreed, but I did. And then we went to another party after eating at some diner and I’m not exactly sure what happened after that."

  
Despite the situation, Louis felt a weight lifted off his shoulders and as his mom finished folding the last of his clothing and placing it in his dresser she turned to face him once again, basket resting on her hip this time.  
Her features were soft, which gave Louis some sort of hope that his punishment wouldn’t be too bad.

  
"I’m glad you told me, love," She cooed, fueling Louis’ hope even more. "But you’re still being grounded for a month."

  
Every bit of Louis’ hope was shattered at her words, a look of disbelief coloring his face. “What? Mom, that’s not fair!” He winced at the volume of his own voice, making a mental note to not shout.

  
"Just be lucky it wasn’t your father that found out, your punishment would be far worse, young man." The woman began to cross the room, heading towards the door but pausing just before exiting. "Now get up and get ready, you’re going to be late for school."

  
With that, she left the room, closing the door behind her and leaving Louis to flop back onto his bed yet again.

  
How the hell was he supposed to function with a hangover? Of that, he wasn’t sure, but there were two things the he was sure of.

  
One, he was never touching a drop of alcohol again.

  
Two, this was all Harry Styles’ fault.

 

∞ ∞ ∞

 

Surprisingly, Louis had managed to get dressed and look somewhat presentable despite feeling like utter shit. All in all, he had to say he was mighty pleased with himself, but the good mood didn’t last long.  
As soon as he stepped foot on school grounds, before he had even gotten a chance to close the car door behind him, he was being bombarded with questions.

  
"Where the fuck did ya’ get off to?"

  
"Why would you let Niall take you to a party? On a school night nonetheless!"

"You didn’t get picked up by the cops did ya’?"

  
"Cops? Louis, what does he mean cops? Oh god, please tell me you didn’t."

  
"Did you see that redhead I went upstairs with? She was hot, wasn’t she? Had a great set of tits."

  
Louis’ head was spinning, irritation swimming beneath the surface of his skin.

  
"No, this is not happening right now. It is far too early for you two to be asking stupid questions. So if you’ll kindly wait until I don’t feel like punching either of you in the face to ask, I’d appreciate it."

  
With that, Louis stormed off, pushing past the two boys and marching towards the front doors.

  
The two boys turned their attention to Louis’ mother, plastering smiles on before greeting her in unison, Niall taking the initiative to close the car door Louis had left ajar before they eventually began trailing after said boy.

 

∞ ∞ ∞

 

His morning had gone by in a blur, one class melting into another, one lecture droning on into another until it formed one large blur he hadn’t managed to retain one single ounce of information from. Really, how was he supposed to even pay attention when all he wanted to do was run home and bury himself under a mass of blankets?

  
But luckily for him, someone out there decided to cut him some slack as the bell rang, signalling it was time for lunch. Usually Louis had been indifferent about lunch time, but today, he couldn’t be more grateful for it.  
As the boy pushed himself up from his seat and began packing up his belongings, a shrill voice sounded from behind him in greeting. He would recognize it anywhere.

  
"Hello, Eleanor."

  
He gritted his teeth and briefly closed his eyes, managing to pull himself together before turning around and slinging his bag over his shoulder and producing the biggest smile he could muster.

  
The boy could hardly handle the girl on any other day, he had no clue how he could manage her while dealing with a hangover. And maybe it was fair, it wasn’t like she could help being so loud and bubbly all the time, but regardless, he still felt his irritation spike once again.

  
"Oh wow, Liam really was telling the truth. You look like shit, no offense."  
Louis bristled, his smile faltering slightly as he choked out a tense laugh.

  
"None taken, love." That might have been a lie.

  
"Well, anyways- I don’t want to keep you from lunch or anything, but I was wondering if we could talk later? It’s kind of important."

  
The boy was about to say no, that he’d rather not have any sort of important talk today, but he nodded his head and offered the girl some sort of warm smile.

  
"Of course, just find me after school or something, yeah?"

  
The girl nodded, throwing her arms out and wrapping Louis up in a hug before pressing a kiss to his cheek and sauntering away. Stopping momentarily to call out over her shoulder, “Looking forward to it!” After that, she had exited, leaving Louis to realize that he was the only one left in the room.

  
With that new information, he rushed from the room, paying little attention to where he was going until he was met with a solid figure, nearly losing his balance altogether until an arm was placed around his waist to steady him.

  
"Careful there, Kitten. We wouldn’t want you getting hurt now."

  
Louis tilted his head back, his eyes narrowing as green ones mirrored his own. This was not happening.

  
The boy began squirming, forcing himself out of Harry’s grip only to stumble backwards and into somebody else.

  
"You really are an uncoordinated little shi-" The voice was cut off abruptly, a sound of pain erupting from the boy before another voice spoke up.

"I thought we agreed to play nice, Nick?"

  
The younger boy spun around, coming face to face with Zayn and Nick. This really wasn’t happening.

  
He opened his mouth, gaping slightly before shaking his head. He never got the chance to speak, which was definitely a good thing, before Niall was swooping in as if he didn’t see the other three boys standing there, followed by a timid Liam that definitely noticed the other boys.

  
"So, now that it’s lunch time you’re gonna pull your head out of your ass and fill me in on what happened, yeah?"

  
Louis blinked a few times, turning to look up at Niall, his brows furrowing. What he wouldn’t give to be as oblivious as the blonde.

  
As an awkward silence fell over the group, realization began to hit the older boy, his eyes wandering momentarily to the other boys before he was releasing Louis from his grip and shuffling towards Harry, offering him a fist bump before doing the same to Nick and Zayn and launching into something Louis couldn’t even pay attention to.

  
Of course they would all know each other.

  
"This isn’t happening," he mumbled to nobody in particular, but of course Liam was beside him in a second.

  
"Did you know that they knew each other? Why wouldn’t he tell us that he knew them?"

  
Louis had to physically hold himself back from rolling his eyes at Liam’s words.

  
"No, no I didn’t. And if I did, I would have kicked Niall to the curb a long time ago."

  
Liam looked scandalized and if Louis almost laughed, he’d never admit it.

"Oi, Tommo, I heard that."

The boy’s attention shifted from Liam to the four faces now staring back at him. He silently wished for the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

  
Without another thought he began pushing forward, grabbing onto Niall and pushing him in the direction of the lunch room.

  
"It’s great to know that you can hear, now can we hurry up and get to lunch before all the good choices are gone?"

  
Liam was scurrying behind them, stopping as Niall turned back around, halting Louis in his tracks as well.

  
"Are you three gonna be joining us or what?"

  
Louis was more than positive that he’d never wanted to hit someone more than he did in that moment.

  
"Actually, we’d love to."

  
Wrong. He was so wrong, he wanted to hit Harry Styles just that much more.

 

∞ ∞ ∞

 

Lunch was supposed to be Louis’ salvation, supposed to be the one time of day he could actually put his head down and just rest. But of course, that wasn’t going to happen.

  
First it had been Zayn and Liam arguing over where they were going to sit, Niall’s laugh doubling as the perfect background music to the ordeal. Then it was Nick complaining about how slow the lunch line moved and reminding Zayn and Harry that this was why they never ate at school and opted to sneak off campus for the period. By that point, Louis was close to snapping as it was, but it seemed as if everyone were out to push his buttons.

  
The last straw was when he was squished between Niall and Liam at their usual table, Liam having won the argument against Zayn. It wasn’t the fact that he barely had any room or the fact that Niall was talking five times louder than necessary or even the fact that Liam was constantly nudging him when he wasn’t paying attention.

  
No, he could deal with all of that, despite his hangover and all. But what he couldn’t stand was the fact that Harry fucking Styles felt the need to stare him down from across the lunch table.

  
He had considered playing it cool, considered ignoring the boy altogether, but it was becoming more and more obvious that the boy was watching every single one of his movements. What was his problem?

  
"Can I help you?" The words were out of his mouth before he could even think about biting his tongue.

  
All eyes were on him in an instant, the shit eating grin now on Harry’s face making Louis’ blood boil.

  
"What ever do you mean, Kitten?" His reply was calm, only adding fuel to Louis’ fire.

  
He heard Niall snort, no doubt at the nickname.

  
"Will you stop calling me that?! God, you don’t even know me! And even if you did, I’d still want to kick your ass-" A gasp sounded from Liam, no doubt at Louis’ choice of words. "-for using that ridiculous nickname! My name is  _Louis_. Louis _fucking_  Tomlinson.”

  
Alright, maybe he was overreacting, but he couldn’t help it. Today had been shit and it wasn’t even over yet, he felt like hell, every little thing was getting under his skin and he really didn’t want to deal with anything right now.

  
Louis could feel everyone’s eyes on him, even from a table over. And when had he stood up? He could have sworn he was still sitting down just a second ago.

  
Zayn spoke up then, causing everyone’s attention to shift towards him and Louis was more than grateful.

  
"Harry was just kidding, you know, honest. He didn’t mean to-" The raven haired boy was silenced, the table’s attention shifting once again, this time to the curly headed boy as he stood up and leaned across the table, using his hands to prop himself up and stopping just inches away from Louis’ face.

  
"Then let me get to know you, Louis Tomlinson. Let me take you out."

  
Another gasp sounded from Liam followed by a ‘ _fucking hell_ ' from Zayn and Louis couldn't help but compare that exact moment to one of the terribly cheesy soap operas that his mother watches all the time.

  
"Take me out?" Louis parroted in shock.

  
Harry nodded once, an eyebrow arching.

  
Louis turned to look at Liam, his eyes pleading for help or some sort of answer but all he recieved was a shrug and an apologetic look.

  
He turned his head back, focusing his gaze on the older boy. “How do you even know if i’m into guys?”

  
It was Harry’s turn to look away, Louis following his gaze before his eyes came to stop on a sheepishly grinning Niall.

  
He held his hands up in defense, “I had no fuckin’ clue he was gonna ask! You can’t blame me.”

  
Oh yes, he definitely could.

  
"I’m- I can’t, I’m grounded.."  _Thanks to you_.

  
"Then after you’re ungrounded."

  
Louis forced himself to look at Harry once again. He should say no, tell the other boy that he didn’t do dates. And okay, maybe that wasn’t by his own choice, but still.

  
But before he could voice his opinion, his head was already nodding just like every other time the other boy had asked him a question.  
"Good, just tell me when you’re ungrounded then."

  
And just like that, the curly headed boy sat back down, Louis numbly mimicking his actions, and the table began to converse and eat their lunches as if nothing had happened at all.

  
Louis had no idea what he had just agreed to, what he had gotten himself into or how this had become his life.


End file.
